The purpose of this proposal is to acquire fundamental information about a Granulosis virus (GV) which infects the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. The objectives of this proposal are to isolate and characterize the component parts of GV as to their biophysical, biochemical and biological properties and to establish a tissue culture host system for the virus. The unique aspects of our proposed investigation include: I. Purified GV will be selectively dissociated and these components will be isolated and biophysically characterized: granulin, enveloped nucleocapsid, envelope, nucleocapsid, nucleoprotein complex, and capsis; II. The isolated GV components will be biochemically characterized by: a) determination of the polypeptide composition and degree of modification (phosphorylation, glycosylation, lipid, etc) of the isolated components, b) analyses of specific enzyme activities associated with isolated GV components, c) investigation of the uncoating of nucleocapsids by using isolated nuclear membrane components, and d) preparation of immunological reagents to the isolated GV components; III. The biological infectivity of the isolated GV components will be determined by per os and intrahemocoelic infectivity studies. A tissue culture system (invertebrate and vertebrate) will be established for Granulosis virus.